EDU 3083

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SECTION A : ACADEMIC ESSAY
DISCUSS HOW A SCHOOL LEADER

CAN USE LEADER SUBORDINATES , TASK

STRUCTURE , AND POWER TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE SCHOOL SITUATION THAT WOULD

IMPCT SCHOOL EXCELLENCE

Leaders direct and guide followers in the organization, recognizing both roles as critical to the
success of the organization. There is a positive relationship between leaders and followers in
organizations, and a distinct difference between leadership and management. Leaders may be
autocratic, democratic, or laissez-faire in their approach .
Leadership is an important element in a formal bureaucratic organization. Within the framework
of an organization, leadership encompasses all forms of activities aimed at influencing the knowledge,
practice

and

motivation

members

in

it.

Many studies show the success of the organization due to the dysfunction leadership. Effective school
is to be created by the presence of a political leader. Leaders are individuals in a group that was given
the responsibility to direct and coordinate activities to achieve group goals (Ibrahim Mamat, 2001). For
him, the leader is a combination of the qualities of a director, and assistant driver of an
organization.According to Kamus Dewan (2002), leadership is the ability to lead. Accordingly, Robbins
(2003) explains the concept of leadership as the ability to influence the members of the group to
achieve a goal.
Kim and Maubourgne (1992) also define leadership as a person's ability to inspire confidence
and support among the group of people that are needed to achieve organizational goals. Furthermore,
leadership is the ability to influence the belief systems, actions and values of the gang members
(Leithwood

&

Janti,

1999).

Fidler (1997) have identified two key features of the results of his analysis of the diversity of definitions
of leadership, namely:
Ability to generate a sense of direction and confidence among his followers.
Influencing followers towards the goal.
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It clearly shows the impact of leadership can be shown in terms of the ability and wisdom of
leaders influence the feelings, beliefs and actions of his followers towards a shared goal. However,
Murphy (1988) leadership should not be interlinked with the characteristics of the leader alone.
Leadership should also be interlinked with the interaction of leaders with followers, influence of
leaders and followers in the context of where he is (leadership situation). Therefore, in addition to the
characteristics of a leader, effective leadership is subject to context, and the issue of his / goals of the
organization (leadership contingency).The success of a school achieving school status effective or
outstanding schools will be referred to the ability of the leadership of the school principal or
headmaster of the school's traditional leadership model based on a hierarchical structure in which
power and control in an organization focused on the leadership alone.In the era of globalization, rapid
technological change and priority to the development of human capital, transformational leadership
began to influence the organization of the school. The education system is increasingly complex
demands radical changes to the way the school provides educational services.

Decentralisation, excellent school culture and the principles of best practices is a new
challenge in the individual's leadership schools nowadays. In a school that is made up of a group of
professional teachers, school organization, hierarchical structures are shaped horizontal. School
leadership is seen as a collaborative effort, fostering camaraderie colleagues as a means of
enhancing professional practice. Teacher leadership can be seen in the context of the management of
school activities, instructional leadership and kepe mimpinan in the context of the wider community.
Today, the concept of teacher as leader is influential to the changes that occur in the system.

Both primary and secondary schools encountered many similar management issues. As a
learning institution, one of the main issues is the management of school managers especially where
their leadership and governance is concerned. Apart from this, Santrock (2001) the school managers
of learning organization are responsible in establishing the safe and conducive learning environment
in schools and therefore related to school and class size as well as home-school partnership.
Meanwhile, the classrooms where teaching and learning take place need to be managed effectively.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of headteacher as the manager of primary school and principals as
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the manager of secondary school to design the physical environment of the classroom for optimal
learning, create positive environment for learning, establish and maintain rules, effectively deal with
problems, effective usage of communication strategies and understand the development of the
students.

The reviews of the research on effective schools concluded that the environment of schools
does make a difference in students learning. Some schools are more effective than others, and the
school students attend can make a significant differencein their level of academic achievements.
(Berliner, 1990; Henson & Eller, 1999, 1983;Othman,2001;Sabu,2005). It has often been observed
that the head of the school is the key factor in how effective the school is. In an effective school the
principal acts as an instructional leader and effectively and persistently communicates the school's
mission to the staff, parents, and students. The principal understands and applies effective leadership
skills to enable both students and staff to achieve the desired school and student achievements.
Almost every single study on effective school has shown that both primary and secondary leadership
to be the key factor. Mukhtar & Muslizah (2004) has drawn attention to the fact that no evidence of
effective schools with weak leadership has emerged in reviews of effectiveness research.
Reviews by Othman (2001) concluded that leadership is necessary to initiate and maintain
school improvement. Leadership is not simply about the quality of individual leader although this is, of
course, important. It is also about the role that leaders play, their style of management, their
relationship to the vision, values and goals of the school, and their approach to change. MOE is aware
of the important role of the headteacher/principal in school improvement. In their efforts to enhance
the professionalism of headteachers/principals at the primary school level, MOE has drastically
developed an intensive graduate program for the head teacher/principal.
It was found that effective school has a great impact on educating the citizens. Although
effective schools is no longer a new concept in Malaysia since it was introduce in 1995 but the
development and realization towards it is still in the infancy stage and a long way to be translated into
effective strategies. Hence, the Ministry of Education should be more proactive with the
implementation of effective schools in Malaysia. The important point we want to highlight here is that
these characteristics can be used to describe in the context of higher learning institutions. They are
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relevant in explaining the functions of universities and what can be done towards realizing the
organizational effectiveness.
Hence, the need for cultural change is imperative which calls for the transformation of
organizational values, norms, structure and processes. This transformation does not mean that the
essential values for academic freedom, intellectual creativity and the new wisdom must be sacrificed.
In achieving the organizational change, top management of universities must articulate the changes
that are required with utmost commitment and perseverance.

SECTION B
PREPARE AN INTERVIEW ON DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTIICS OF LEADERSHIP OF A
NOVICE TEACHER AND A SENIOR ASSISTANT.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Plan and prepare interview questions before actual interview going.

Record the interview session.
Analyse and make comparison on the different characteristics of both interviewee.
Produce a VCD of the interview.

Interview questions.
SENIOR ASSISSTANT
1. Can you introduced yourself?
My Name is Pn Jannah ,I am a senior assistant of this school since 2010.

2. Can you give some characteristic of a professional teacher?

Based on my experience , I can say that a professional teacher need to be knowledgeable ,
pedagogical content knowledge in teaching and learning and also have a good attitude.
3. What do you think of teacher intergrity ?

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Integrity of the teacher means that a teacher need to implement trust and powers entrusted by
the public interest. In terms of teaching and learning, the teacher should be responsible to give
the best to the students.
4. How about the politeness in the context of the teaching profession ?
Politeness can be seen in many ways in daily interaction. Procedure acting and speaking that
should be done by the teacher must be in harmony with the norms of the society in which the
teacher is serving.

5. Can u give some characteristics on pedagogical content knowledge of a novice teacher ?

Based on my experience on a novice teacher , their pedagogical action is limited and leading
to methods of teaching performance.
6. What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?
Duties and responsibilities of a teacher is not confine to the classroom alone but the teacher is
beyond the limitations of the school.

NOVICE TEACHER
1. Can you introduced yourself?
My Name is Pn Laili . I am a new teacher in this school. I was posted here 2013.

2. Can you give some characteristic of a professional teacher?

A professional teacher must be rich with knowledge and always trying to improve the qualities
of teaching.
3. What do you think of teacher intergrity ?
In my opinion , a teacher must be responsible to give the best to the students and also honesty
to create a generation that is useful to our country.
4. How about the politeness in the context of the teaching profession ?
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Politeness is very important. Gentle and caring attitude is the attitude that one teacher should
have in themselves.

5. Can u give some characteristics on pedagogical content knowledge of a novice teacher ?

As a new teacher , I must understand the pedagogical content knowledge which can help me
in teaching and learning strategies.

6. What are the duties and responsibilities of a teacher?

As a teacher , I must realize that the duties and responsibilities of teachers as a whole is to
build and independent nation and develop.

ANALYSE AND MAKE COMPARISON ON THE DIFFEREN CHARACTERISTICS OF BOTH

INTERVIEWEE..
To summarize the interview session , we may say that a few main characteristics of
preactive thinking identified on which novice and senior assistant differ. In the planning process
, senior assistant more autonomy. A novice teacher planning is guided by rules and models.
On the other hand , senior assistant is fully aware of the contextual variables that she
needs to consider when planning. From her experience , she know what works in the
classroom and what does not. Hence , the senior assistant is much more ready to depart from
rules and take responsibilities for their own actions.
The senior assistant is much more efficient rather than the novice teacher. We can see
that senior assistant seem to be similar in other fields and her mentals plans is much richer
and that they do engage in detailed planning.

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The senior asisstant is much more responsive to contextual cues , and much more
ready to make changes to her plan accordingly. In other words , it is the way teacher relate to
their specific context of work that differentiate from the novice.

SENIOR ASISTANT

In-depth knowledge of the content

NOVICE TEACHER

and may associate with different

contexts in an integrated manner.

Action

is

broader

pedagogy,

Knowledge

is

discrete/

different

content.

Pedagogical action is limited, leading to

methods of imparting knowledge and

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interactive and diverse.

Teach to consider the way students

teaching performance.

Lack of self confidence

learn, how students construct

concepts in cognitive structure
representation. Focus on existing
knowledge, student thinking can
modify the curriculum planning
mentally to suit the needs of the
context.Some things need to be
emphasized when you are in the
process of transitioning to the
novice to the more advanced levels
can be achieved smoothly and
efficiently.

Ability to generate a sense of

direction and confidence among his
followers.

Influencing followers towards the

goal.

INTERVIEW PLANNING CHECKLIST

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ITEM

DATE

REVIEW AND UNDERSTAND THE TASK

25TH AUGUST 2014

PLANNING THE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

27TH AUGUST 2014

SETTING THE INTERVIEW DATE

28TH AUGUST 2014

DOING THE INTERVIEW SESSION

1st SEPTEMBER 2014

MAKING ANALYSE AND COMPARISON

3RD SEPTEMBER 2014

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REFLECTION.
Practice makes perfect I always use this quote in my life. By practicing of something I can face
the problem that I cant predict it before. From that way I can know what I should do to solve the
problem. Sometimes what I have learned from the theory was cant be effective in our situation,
because of the situation will be different.
As I joined Program Pensiswazahan Guru , I

relearn the the subject of Leadership and

Teacher Professional Development (EDU3083). The coursework mainly requires few tasks related on
leadership in a particular school organization.
Organization refers to the form of the enterprise or institution and the arrangement of the
human and material resources functioning in a manner to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. It
represents two or more than two people respectively specializing in functions of each perform, working
together towards a common goal as governed by formal rules of behaviour (Sarfraz Ahmad, 2011).
The scope of school organization is very massive. It includes; efficiency of the institution, securing
benefits of the school through practical measures, clarification of the functions of the school,
coordination of the educational programmes, and educational planning. It provides close collaboration
and sense of sharing responsibilities, organized purpose and dynamic approach between leaders and
subordinates. In school organization, there is a great role of the economy, men, and material to
achieve the desired objectives.
Being able to observe the school organization and how leadership works in a school has
widened my knowledge a lot. Leadership requires experience and skills. I learnt that it was a tough job
to become a leader. The school organization is made up of several individuals who holds up certain
positions and these individuals are good at handling their tasks. I become aware of the skills in
managing tasks by referring to the senior teachers in this particular school. Managing tasks include
managing programmes or activities related with the school
As far as I am concerned, I believe that collaboration between the leader, teachers and all the
school community is very crucial. A successful project or programme relies mostly on the effort and
collaboration of each individual in an organization.

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Apart from that, using the knowledge of leadership also allows me to identify and classify the
perfect styles of leadership that is suitable to be use in the future professional development. It is a
must to combine all the practical experience, methods and theories of leadership in order to achieve
excellent in school.
Though I learnt that there are a lot of different style of leadership, I truthfully consider that a
good leadership style is the blending of various leadership styles. In addition, I have also experienced
that it is significant to learn about leadership during this internship as I can recognise how to solve
problems and how to make a decision. As a teacher, this has increase my professional development in
terms of dealing and handling problematic pupils in school. No matter what technique or method used
to solve a problem and make decision, as a leader one must always remember that the decision
should be beneficial in the long term, able to change negative behaviour to positive behaviour, and
parallel to the aims and objectives in the teaching profession.
The task is huge and a single person in charge is sufficient. At least working in a team can
lessen the burden and the productivity of the work can be increase from time to time
As a conclusion, this coursework has given a lot of chance for me to not only observe the
leadership in an organization that relates to my coursework, but also to allow me experienced working
with teachers who act as my mentors and help to develop deeper and trust relationship with all the
school community. Being able to get the experienced in hand eventually increase my knowledge and
skills and hopefully I will be able to apply on whatever I had learnt throughout this process and
improve on becoming a great teacher

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